Oregon Natural Desert Association

Education

Jeremy Fox

watch

Oregon Desert Trail Map

Oregon Desert Trail Map

voices

Ryan “Dirtmonger” Sylva, ODT thru-hiker 2017

Ryan “Dirtmonger” Sylva, ODT thru-hiker 2017

“To me, it’s a thru-hike in an isolated place that promotes a conversation in land management, ethics and usage. Hiking across a vast and remote landscape and having a random and chance encounter with cowboys and hunters to discuss how ‘all of us’ should treat the land, how we all have a responsibility, no matter our political leanings, really showed me the pulse of the people in rural areas, especially here out west.”

listen

Western Meadowlark Dawn Chorus

Western Meadowlark Dawn Chorus

The Oregon Natural Desert Association’s mission is to protect, restore, and defend Oregon’s desert areas, and ODT users can help us in these efforts. After you travel through these areas and spend extended time in some of these remote and extraordinary desert landscapes, please provide your feedback about the route and consider joining us as a member.

To learn more about the conservation priorities at ONDA please browse our website, and spend some time scrolling around our interactive map.

Many of our conservation goals are met by extensive wilderness inventories and science-based monitoring. Your experiences on the ground in these sensitive places can help us achieve a diverse and varied set of data that will help us defend and protect these areas. Here are a few things you can do while on the ODT that can help us in our conservation goals:

Share your observations with us

The best way we can continue to refine the route is to get your feedback about your experience along the Oregon Desert Trail. In addition, keeping track of water sources on our water chart will go a long way towards building a good picture of water conditions in the desert. Did you see something unique, exciting, or strange? Take a photo and share it with us. Interesting encounters with people along the way? Let us know. In the early stages in the development of a long-distance trail many people who live along the route may be unfamiliar with long distance hiking, and that first conversation with a hiker can pave the way for future hikers’ experiences and supporters of the route. We are still discovering resources along the route to add to our Town & Services Guide, and if someone offers help or a service, let us know and we can include it for future hikers. We’d be interested in hearing about any notable conversations along the way.

Take photos of Citizen Proposed Wilderness Areas

ONDA has identified wilderness values in areas marked Citizen Proposed Wilderness Areas (CPWA) on the maps, and advocate for protection of these areas with the BLM. The importance of these CPWAs are in the solitude and natural state of the land. We have a photo database of these CPWAs that show these unblemished areas, and invite you to contribute to the effort. For each CPWA you pass through, you can submit up to 5 photos to us to add to this database. Many photos are geo-refenced automatically, but apps are available like Solocator that can include detailed georeferenced data.

Take note of off-road/trail ATV damage

Many sections along the Oregon Desert Trail route are open to multiple modes of transportation. Hikers will pass through clearly marked OHV trail systems, and on many two-track roads that are still used by vehicles and ATVs. However, if you see areas of clear habitat damage where vehicles have left the roads (especially in Wilderness Study Areas) please let us know and take photo of what you have observed.

Attend an ONDA Stewardship Volunteer Trip

Every year, ONDA offers dozens of volunteer trips to some of the most scenic landscapes in Oregon’s high desert. With different projects that include removing fence, planting trees, maintaining trail, surveying potential wilderness areas, and monitoring sage grouse breeding grounds, there is an ONDA trip fit for desert lovers of all abilities and ages. Best of all, most trips are free. Join ONDA today to get in on the fun.

Become an Independent Steward

Interested in giving your high desert adventure a purpose? This program offers volunteers a self-directed opportunity to contribute to important stewardship work to restore Oregon’s high desert apart from ONDA’s group stewardship trips.

Become an Adventure Scientist

The organization Adventure Scientists sends thousands of volunteers on missions to collect data from remote, difficult-to-access locations for their conservation partners. In 2013 Sage Clegg collected diatom samples from ODT water sources and helped find several new species on her thru-hike. Contact them to see if there are any projects you could contribute to on your hike in the high desert.

Become a Public Land Leader

Our Public Land Leaders program makes it simple and fun for you to talk with your friends and family about public lands in Oregon’s high desert and encourage others to speak up for our land. By becoming a Public Land Leader in your community, you will encourage new voices to speak up for our public lands.

Much of the land along the Oregon Desert Trail is public. As such, the route offers an excellent way to not only learn about our collective landscape within the high desert, but also about the different types of designations that exist, how they are managed, who manages them, and what your role can be in the future of these lands.

Understanding how different public lands are managed and how that impacts you and the communities in eastern Oregon is an important aspect of the Oregon Natural Desert Associations’ work. ONDA has been working for 30 years to protect, defend, and restore high desert landscapes in Oregon, and once you spend a day, week, or month on the ODT, we hope you will see the importance in protecting these public lands for generations to come, and for the wildlife that lives there.

Throughout the ODT materials you will find references to the different types of management and learn more about each. You will also learn about the particular importance of areas like the Hart Mountain National Antelope Refuge which was created in 1936 as a range for remnant herds of pronghorn antelope, and then broadened to include conservation of all wildlife species characteristic of the high desert habitat and restoration of native ecosystems.

The public lands along the ODT are managed by the Bureau of Land Management, U.S. Forest Service, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, and Oregon State Parks. Each of these agencies has their own set of missions, purposes, and goals with unique rules and regulations used to achieve desired outcomes. It is the hiker’s responsibility to become familiar with these rules and regulations as a part of trip preparation. Please take the time to contact the agency that manages the public lands you plan to enjoy for additional information.

Thousands of years ago, Native American tribes lived in almost every region of Oregon’s high desert. Oregon Desert Trail hikers will find traces of the people who inhabited them, such as rock art, artifacts, and structures left behind. The cultural history found throughout eastern Oregon is rich and varied, and we will be developing resources to guide hikers and other adventurers in learning more about the past and present throughout eastern Oregon.

The oldest traces of human habitation in North America are found in Oregon’s high desert, and eastern Oregon set the scene for some of the biggest struggles of the westward expansion in the mid 1800’s. The introduction of land management by the federal government impacted the desert in a lasting way, and many of the families that live in eastern Oregon today can trace their lineage back to these homesteaders. There is much to learn and understand about the lifestyle and livelihood of those along the route.

Netting the Sun: A Personal Geography of the Oregon Desert by Melvin R. Adams

NATIVE AMERICAN HISTORIES

Oregon Apocalypse: Hidden History of the Northern Paiutes by James Gardner (forthcoming)

HOMESTEAD NARRATIVES

Child of the Steens by Eileen O’Keeffe McVicker and Barbara J. Scot

These books are just a sample of eastern Oregon literature. Have a resource you would like to share? Email us.

Geology along the Oregon Desert Trail is a glimpse into the relatively recently volcanic life of Oregon. From the largest fault-block mountains in the country, to hot springs, lava beds, lava tubes, and deep fissures in the earth, there is much to learn about the earth’s movement and activity along the ODT.

Here are a few book suggestions to get you started:

In Search of Ancient Oregon by Ellen Morris Bishop

Roadside Geology of Oregon by David D. Alt

Many people do not realize that deserts are full of life! Oregon’s high desert supports a remarkable diversity of plant and animal species, many of which are unique and endangered.

Our high desert is dominated by sagebrush—making this habitat, called the sagebrush steppe, the perfect home for many animals that are dependent on sagebrush for food and shelter. These desert-dwellers are called sagebrush obligate species and include the Greater sage-grouse, pygmy rabbit, sage thrasher, and pronghorn antelope.

On warmer summer days the western rattlesnake can be found sunning on rocky outcroppings. Take care when walking through tall grasses; wearing tall gaiters and beating the brush with a hiking stick can prevent unwanted close encounters with these desert creatures.

Eastern Oregon can be described as a “sagebrush sea” and is home to many desert plants and vegetation unique to the high desert environment. There are prime examples of greater sage-grouse habitat in eastern Oregon, consisting of grasses, forbs (flowering non-woody plants), and shrubs.

The juniper tree is plentiful, along with mountain mahogany, stands of ponderosa pines, and loads of sagebrush.

In the Oregon Badlands Wilderness, with vegetation typical of the high desert region, native plants have adapted to survive on less than 12 inches of rain per year. Spring can bring vibrant wildflowers such as Oregon sunshine, dwarf purple monkeyflower, sulfur buckwheat, Indian paintbrush, and mariposa lilies. Other high desert wildflowers common throughout the region include buttercups, larkspur, phlox, primroses, and coral mallow.

The Oregon Badlands Wilderness also contains the oldest known tree in Oregon, a western juniper estimated to be more than 1,600 years old.

Connect with other hikers, share your trip reports, explore the trail towns along the route, or plan to attend a future trail presentation. As we build our network of supporters and hikers, we would love to involve you as much as possible. Do you have a service you would like to offer hikers along...

Thanks to thousands of volunteer and staff hours and generous support in the form of memberships and donations, the Oregon Desert Trail is now a reality. There are many ways to help shape the future of the route, including joining ONDA, volunteering for trail work, attending a presentation, and becoming a sponsor of...

To make planning easier, ONDA divided the full 750-mile trail route into four regions and a total of 25 sections of 20 to 40 miles each, all of varying difficulty. Be advised! It is critical to read the guide descriptions in detail and seriously consider any notes on water scarcity or challenging terrain...

The Oregon Desert Trail is an extremely challenging route for hikers, both physically and logistically. Travelers on the ODT need to be aware of the remoteness, lack of cell communication and environmental hazards. There are several potentially dry stretches with no reliable water, and water caching ahead of time is necessary. Thru-hiking the entire...

Connect with other hikers, share your trip reports, explore the trail towns along the route, or plan to attend a future trail presentation. As we build our network of supporters and hikers, we would love to involve you as much as possible. Do you have a service you would like to offer hikers along...

Thanks to thousands of volunteer and staff hours and generous support in the form of memberships and donations, the Oregon Desert Trail is now a reality. There are many ways to help shape the future of the route, including joining ONDA, volunteering for trail work, attending a presentation, and becoming a sponsor of...

To make planning easier, ONDA divided the full 750-mile trail route into four regions and a total of 25 sections of 20 to 40 miles each, all of varying difficulty. Be advised! It is critical to read the guide descriptions in detail and seriously consider any notes on water scarcity or challenging terrain...

Now more than ever, we need everyone who loves public lands to speak up for them, or we risk losing these places. Many people simply don’t realize that the places they enjoy hiking, biking, and rafting through are threatened. And those of us who are concerned about the future of our public lands don’t...